As I make (and re-make) plans for some extended travel, I’ve found myself thinking about the web presence I’ve built for the Northern Virginia Writing Project that will soon pass into the hands of someone else. However, before I let go, some changes need to happen to better address three goals: simplicity, collaboration, and reality.
Simplicity
I [...]

TMAO brought my attention to these prepared remarks of California Democratic Congressman George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. TMAO quotes this line:
Even with all of these changes, we will not meet our national goal of closing the achievement gap until and unless we close the teacher quality gap.
While I strongly [...]

While I disagree with the way NCLB has been conceived and enforced, I agree with this approach from teachers to students:
We decided it was our duty to do everything we could to help our students beat this test—everything, that is, except give up powerful, purposeful instruction.
I’ve also found that an “outside enemy” (like a standardized [...]

My girlfriend and I were a little restless yesterday, so we took a drive out to a local “urban legend” hot spot: Bunny Man Bridge. The legends that collect around this site vary widely, attributing the origin to an escaped convict, a murderous teen, or perhaps just a local nut-job upset about trespassers.

[It's the [...]

October’s issue of Realms of Fantasy magazine has an article by Terri Windling called “Lost and Found: The Orphaned Hero in Myth, Folklore, and Fantasy.” In it, Windling traces the archetype through mythology, fairy tales, fiction, and history.1 She also offers some explanations for the continued interest in these tales, such as the [...]

I just finished the final book in the Harry Potter series. It’s a fitting ending to a great series. Regardless of your opinions of the books themselves, I find it hard for anyone to think of Rowling’s work and not also think: “What a great thing she’s done for kids” … in at [...]

In the beginning … the dreamers envisioned a virtual realm of true equality to be ushered in by “the Internet.” But it seems people tend to naturally self-select themselves into groups and classes, or at least that’s what some recent writings are implying.
Danah Boyd suggested this online classism a while ago, noting the distinction [...]

This year, for the first time in nine years, I won’t be planning for school to start next month. That doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about it, though, and my first thoughts are usually about the physical space of the learning environment.
The Problem
In an earlier post, responding to a “layout of your working space” [...]

A while ago, I found the “Life & Music” animation1 (from the creators of South Park and based on the teachings of Alan Watts) and posted them on my classroom blog. This weekend, Boing Boing pointed to a collection of these videos, all from the same creators, all based on Alan Watts’ lectures.

They’re [...]

I was reading my way back into the “edublogosphere” when I came across Doug Belshaw’s post “8 things that irritate me with edublogs.” It got a few people talking that I’ve traded comments with in the past, and it got me thinking about some questions I’ve asked myself before and found myself asking again [...]